WUDT-LD
WUDT-LD, in Detroit, Michigan, is a low-power affiliate of Daystar. It operates as a digital station on channel 23.1 (mapped to former analog position 23), owned and operated by Daystar. History The station took to the air on January 4, 1989, as low-power W05BN on channel 5. It then became WBXD-LP on September 1, 1995, reflecting its affiliation with, and ownership by, The Box, which was acquired by Viacom in 1999 and merged into its MTV2 in 2001. The sale to Viacom put WBXD under the same ownership as UPN station WKBD (channel 50) and, after Viacom's merger with CBS, WWJ-TV (channel 62). On January 30, 2001, the station moved to channel 35 and then to channel 23 on July 12, 2001. Then on June 27, 2002, the station began operating at class A status, giving it the call sign WBXD-CA. Viacom sold WBXD-CA to Equity Broadcasting in November 2004. The new owners renamed the station WUDT-CA, and made the station an affiliate of Univision. In 2007, Equity Broadcasting was renamed Equity Media Holdings Corporation. WUDT-CA was the first Spanish-language television station to take to the air in the state of Michigan since W66BV, Detroit's prior Univision affiliate, became a TBN translator in the early-1990s. During its time with Univision, WUDT was also one of only three stations affiliated with the network (along with KUNS-TV in Seattle and Univision O&O WQHS-TV in Cleveland) in markets bordering Canada. Univision's over-the-air presence in Detroit made Detroit/Windsor the only market in the United States or Canada with terrestrial stations in English, Spanish and French—the French station was Radio-Canada owned-and-operated station CBEFT on channel 35, a former originating station which rebroadcast Toronto's CBLFT-DT before going dark in 2012. WUDT's master control was remotely originated via satellite from Equity's headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. Equity maintained a local news and advertising sales office at 5600 King Street in Troy. The station had limited backup signal transmission arrangements; during several instances of bad weather, WUDT-CA often broadcast either a black screen or a "NO SIGNAL" message. On March 28, 2007, Comcast added WUDT to its Detroit lineup on channel 65, replacing the network's national East Coast feed, which had been carried since the 1980s when Comcast in the Detroit area was split up between several companies (for example, it was known as Barden Cablevision in Detroit proper and Inkster; Cablevision Industries in Dearborn; Continental Cablevision in Southfield, Dearborn Heights, Madison Heights and Hazel Park; Harron Cable in Port Huron; Omnicom in far western Wayne County (including Canton Charter Township) and Hamtramck; Maclean Hunter in many Downriver communities; and Tele-Communications Inc. in several Oakland County suburbs and the Downriver communities of Lincoln Park, Riverview, Woodhaven, Trenton and Gibraltar), and when Univision was known as Spanish International Network (SIN). However, it was never available on WOW! Detroit, Bright House Livonia, Wyandotte Municipal Services or Cogeco Windsor; WOW continued to carry the national feed instead, while Bright House does not have the station or the network on any of its lineups in Livonia, Farmington, Novi or Redford, and Wyandotte Municipal Services also does not carry the station or the network on its lineup in the city of Wyandotte. Cogeco Windsor does not carry Univision in any form due to restrictions set by the CRTC. Comcast later moved the station to channel 18 in Detroit to make room for the Michigan feed of the Big Ten Network, which now occupies channel 65. Due to the 2008 bankruptcy of Equity Broadcasting, WUDT was sold at auction to the Daystar Television Network on April 16, 2009; the sale closed in July 2009. In August 2009, the station began to show only a slide with the Univision logo and station identification. Comcast immediately removed WUDT from its lineup and reverted to carrying the national Univision feed. On August 26, at about 5PM, WUDT switched to Daystar. This left Detroit without a full-time Spanish-language outlet. On April 6, 2010, WUDT switched off its analog signal and broadcast on digital channel 8. At some point in mid-June 2010 WUDT-LD went silent, returning to the air as of July 27, 2010. Daystar reached a deal to sell WUDT-CD, along with WSVT-CD in Tampa, Florida, to LocusPoint Networks in December 2012. The deal will make it a sister station to two other Detroit stations, WDWO-CD (which LocusPoint acquired in March 2013) and W33BY (which LocusPoint acquired in April 2014). In the meantime, in May 2013, Daystar surrendered the class A status for WUDT and three other stations. On December 15, 2014, Ion Media Networks, the owners of WPXD-TV, reached a deal to donate its translator station W48AV (channel 48) in St. Clair Shores to Daystar. As part of the transaction, Daystar requested a special temporary authority for it to relocate to UHF 23, the same channel as WUDT-LD; this was granted. News From about 2005 until June 2008, the station presented a nightly newscast, produced and anchored in Denver, Colorado, with stories produced in the Detroit area originating from the station's offices in Troy. On June 6, 2008, Equity discontinued local newscasts at its six Univision affiliates, including WUDT. Category:Daystar Affiliates Category:Channel 23 Category:Detroit Category:Michigan Category:Television channels and stations established in 1989 Category:1989 Category:Former The Box Affiliates Category:Former MTV2 affiliates Category:Former Univision affiliates Category:Word of God Fellowship Category:UHF Category:Other Michigan Stations